Harness-buckle.



No. 718,710. i EATENTED JAN, 20,1903.

W. EoUGEToN. HARNESS BUCKLE.

APPLICATION FILED 00T. 21, 1902.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

VILLARD HOUGHTON, OF SNOHOMISH, WASHINGTON.

HARNESS-BUCKLE.

SPECIFICATION forming` part of Letters Patent No. 718,710, dated January 20, 1903.

Application filed October 21, 1902. Serial No. 128,144. (No model.)

T0 all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLARD HOUGHTON, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Snohomish, in the county of Snohomish and State of Washingtomhave invented certain new and useful Improvements in Harness-Buckles, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to harness-buckles, and is particularly designed for use with hamestraps.

The object of the invention is to produce a simple, durable, and inexpensive buckle of this class which will afford a secure fastening for a strap without the necessity of puncturing the same for a buckle-tongue and at the same time bequicklyengaged or disconnected.

-To these ends my invention consists in certain details of construction and arrangement of parts, which will be fully described, and finally set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front view,and Fig. 2 a plan view,ofabuckle embodying my improvements, showing by broken lines a hams-strap connected thereto. Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken online @cof Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. lis a perspective view of the buckle with the parts thereof opened.

In the said drawings, 1 designates the body of the buckle, which is vertically bifurcated on the front side, so as to provide a groove 2 and projecting cheeks 3, which have sloping inner faces 4 and convex outer surfaces 5. The back of the said body is provided with ianges 6,eXtending along the upper and lower edges thereof, which are connected adjacent to their opposite ends by vertically-arranged pins 7 and 7. The upper and lower portions of the body are slotted, as at 8 and 9, for the reception of pivoted ends 10' and 11', respectively, of the members 10 and 11, which are hinged to the body by pivots 12 and 13. The

member 10 extends forwardly and is bent at right angles, or nearly so,'so as to provide an upright stud 14. This stud is formed with a convex back 14 and a recess 15, in which is seated a spring-latch 16, provided with ahook 16 at its upper extremity, and is secured, preferably by a screw 16", adjacent to its lower end, to said stud. The member 11 is a shackle for engaging the upper end of stud 14 and is provided with a step 17, which.is engaged by the hook 16 of 'said latch. For convenience I provide uponv the said latch a thu mb-bearing lug 18, whereby the latch may be pressed backwardly out of engagement with the shackle end to free the stud.

Having described the construction of my invention, I will now proceed to explain its use with a hame-strap, reference being had to Figs. 1 and 2, the strap being fiXedly connected by an eye a thereof with the pin 7 and a bight b with a ring or staple on one of the haine ends. The strap is now thrust through the fastening means of the other hame and making a loop c in the strap, thereat, the strap end passed about the inner and outer surfaces, respectively, of the pin 7 and the adjacent cheek. The free end is now pinched or deliected into the groove 2 by pressing in the stud 14, which when shackled and locked by its latch retains the strap against being pulled from the buckle.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A buckle comprising a body bifurcated on the front portion and provided with strapengaging pins on the back, said pins, a bent stud hinged to the said body, a latch in said stud, and a shackle hinged to said body adapted to engage said stud and be itself engaged by the said latch, substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. The combination with the bifurcated body, of a stud hinged to said body, a springlatch in said stud, and a shackle hinged to the body, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

W ILLARD HOUGHTON. 

